Versus previews Beijing

A cable channel that I had never seen before is offering a preview of next year's Olympics to be held in Beijing.
Versus, which is channel 267 on my cable system, has been presenting a one hour show, every afternoon at 4 pm, of the Track and Field World Championships from Osaka, Japan.
Next year at this time the entire country will be watching but right now is a preview of who can run the fastest, jump the furthest and withstand the intense pressure that comes from preforming on a world stage.

A few personalities have emerged.....and Tyson Guy is probably the new golden boy of track and field but of course we have to wait and wonder if he's natural or juiced. Justin Gatlin should have been running but he's facing a two year suspension for steroid use.

When someone emerges as a world champion, we just hold our breath until all the testing has been done. And since Tyson Guy is now the world champion in the 100 and 200...we really hold our collective breath.

But as in baseball I think we should have track meets for people who want to get juiced.

The JTM (Juiced Track Meet) event would prove to be quite interesting. Imagine a runner taking an unlimited amount of steroids for one meet. Times would be staggering. Of course there's always the chance that a runner could explode at the finish line. And while that would be horrible I'm sure it would increase the interest in Track and Field by leaps and bounds.

My guess is that the amount of people watching the Versus coverage, in the United States, of World Championship Track and Field is probably in the thousands and most definitely not in the millions.

A cable channel named Versus can't be widely viewed.

At least NBC will carry some of the meet this weekend.

The lack of interest in Track and Field, other than during the Olympics, seems to a serious lack of interest.

Bernard Lagat is a great story and one that probably won't be widely known until Beijing.
The United States won a International gold medal in the 1500 (formerly known as the Mile) for the first time since 1908. And it took a man from Kenya to pull off the accomplishment. From what I can tell, from the limited stories...he's been in this country for quite a long time...having attended College somewhere in the Pacific Northwest....I think. Seems like an Oregon story but then again I haven't done a ton of investigation yet so I'm not really sure....and I happen to somewhat care about the sport.

One hour programs on Versus don't really have time to give us all the bells and whistles.

One thing that has jumped out in this meet.

The "Chicks" are hot. I'm stunned by how many times they showed the babes getting ready for an event and I've heard myself say...."she's hot."

If I say it one time during a track meet it's a big thing.....I'm not kidding when I say that I've said "she's hot" at least ten times during this week. And a few of the "chicks" are smoking hot.

Maybe I'm just finally lowering my standards.

I hope not.

But things happen when one gets older.

And when one gets older we learn that if it isn't one thing....it's another.

Lower standards might be just one of those another things that we deal with as we move pass the mid-ground on the age scale.

But then this morning as I was walking up to get coffee and I saw a babe in her 20's that took my breath away and I realized that my standards are still pretty high.

Of course when I said good morning and she told me to f..k off...reality returned, and I realized that standards only get lowered because we want the amount of responses to stay at a high level.

I realize this doesn't have much to do with the Track and Field Championships taking place in Osaka Japan, but then again you've probably never even heard of the Versus cable channel so
what difference does it make.

Tonight is one of my favorite events...the 400 Meter final. The last great 400 meter dude was Michael Johnson and he was wonderful to watch. Now he sits in the stands and watches his protegee...the reigning Olympic Champion...Jeremy Wariner. The strange thing about Jeremy is that he used to be a Caucasian....but suddenly he's starting to look like an African American. Which really makes the story even that much better. I love the way he runs and of course I think he was the first dude to wear sunglasses during a meet. The 400 will be run at night so it's kind of trippy to watch him with his shades. He's got a certain aura that is unique.

The Jeremy Wariner skin story is a complete reversal of the Michael Jackson skin story.

If you get a chance.... try to find VERSUS on your cable system and check it out at 4 PM.

By the way....China's main hope for a track medal will be running tonight....It's a name that I could look up and spell properly but without doing that I'm going to guess that it looks like this.....Xxio Xioc. Whatever it's spelled like....He's the World Record holder in the 110 meter High Hurdles and he's quick....and he's tall.

And tomorrow my blog will focus on the start of College Football and of course on the first game of the
USC TROJANS.

oh yeah and Ms. Milanno appears because the Dodgers are coming and she's the cutest Dodger fan at the game.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Another sign from our "GOOD" FRIENDS

Our "good" friends from Saudi Arabia have made another decision that should indicate the substance of their love for democracy and free enterprise.

Yesterday the government indefinitely banned the distribution of a leading Arab newspaper, which a few days before had disclosed that Saudi extremist played a key role in a violent Iraqi al-Qaeda front group.

The Al Hayat newspaper and the kingdom's information minister have been having an on-going dispute for several weeks.

Saudi officials appear to be sensitive to the newspapers criticism that extremists from Saudi Arabs are making their way to Iraq to fight against the SHITE-led government....even though over the last few months top Saudi officials have acknowledged the problem.

Saudi Arabia is a KINGDOM and the last time I checked kingdom's have a tendency to be run by strict authoritarian methods. So making a decision to shut down a newspaper means nothing in that country.

IT SHOULD MEAN SOMETHING IN OUR COUNTRY

but as long as the oil keeps flowing....we don't seem to care what our "good" friends from Saudi Arabia do....including money being sent to their exiled brother in the mountains of Pakistan......Mr. Osama Bin Laden.

Someday we are going to care....
and someday everybody will wonder....how the hell did we let that happen? Weren't they our "good" friends?

The old adage...."with friends like that....who needs enemies".... might be quite pertinent in this case...but then again so might the other adage...."keep your friends close and but your enemies closer."

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Blame it on the Eclipse

ORLANDO, Fla. - Former astronaut Lisa Nowak is pursuing a temporary insanity defense on charges that she assaulted and tried to kidnap a romantic rival, according to a court document released Tuesday.
Nowak suffered from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, insomnia and "brief psychotic disorder with marked stressors," defense attorney Donald Lykkebak wrote. He said the already-petite woman had also recently lost 15 percent of her body weight and struggled with "marital separation."
"This notice does not challenge competence to stand trial, but only raises insanity at the time of the offense," he wrote.

After watching last night's total lunar eclipse I think she should blame it on everything space related....but most of all if she saw an eclipse from space then she could be nuttier than a fruitloaf....or fruitcake or whatever that weird thing that rolls out around Christmas.... is called.

Whenever I want a mouthful of mud I look for the nearest fruitcake or fruitloaf.....

Lisa Nowak should have no problem convincing a jury that she became insane from things she learned and saw while being involved in the NASA program.

It's my opinion that 95% of the population in Southern California doesn't even know that there was an eclipse last night.

Can you imagine how human beings reacted 10,000 years ago when a Lunar Eclipse took place.

I relate it to the similar situation that goes through a one year old when they encounter their first Christmas.

Do they think that life just got incredibly entertaining and how in the world do they know that the next day and every day after that isn't going to be Christmas?

10,000 years ago when a human saw a lunar eclipse did they think it was the end of the moon?

Of course the total eclipse only lasts about ten minutes so they got over it pretty quick....but you know that for the next ten years they kept waiting for it to happen every night......

If Lisa Nowak wasn't able to assimilate the experiences of space then it's fairly easy to understand why she might have gone a tad bit looney.

Most people ignore the realities of Space because they can't deal with it. If those type of people, and there seems to be quite a few of them, get on her jury then she can freak them out with just a few pictures and videos.

She will be acquitted if she just shows them a video of an eclipse taken from Space.

Actually I think I've gone a little goofy just from watching last night's show.

ok

maybe it started awhile ago......

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Just south of Orion

Researchers from the University of Minnesota, using the Wilkenson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite, discovered the ultimate NOTHING, or VOID, in a region of the sky either near or very close to the constellation Eridanus and just south of Orion.

They have discovered a "gargantuan" hole completely devoid of the following items that seem to be found in abundance throughout the universe.

galaxies
stars
dark matter

This "gargantuan" void is about a billion light years across and the researchers have stated that "they have no idea why it is there."

That's a rather funny part of the story.....like what did they think would be there to explain it....
A "GARGANTUAN" SIGN?

THIS IS A LARGE VOID IN THE UNIVERSE
STAY OUT!

The researchers, headed by Professor Lawrence Rudnick and his colleagues Shea Brown and Liliya Williams, also said that a void this large has never been discovered and in fact no one even "expected" to find something like this.

NO ONE?

They also say that what they've found is not "normal."

NOT NORMAL?

Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellites have been around since.......what? The late 1990's

It's not like we've been using Microwave Probe satellites since Galileo or Copernicus.....so discovering things in the Universe that are not NORMAL seems rather presumptuous to me.

And NO ONE thought there might be areas of the universe that haven't been filled with something?

NO ONE speculated that perhaps the Universe had areas of expansion available, when I've always heard that the Universe was always expanding.....and I'm an idiot.

One of the other funny things the Minnesotans said was....."The region appeared to lack DARK MATTER."

Dark Matter, or Dark Energy depending on your school of thought... is usually detected by measuring gravitational forces, because of course.... IT.... cannot be seen directly.

My question is ....when you measure gravitational forces in order to detect DARK MATTER obviously something is allowing a gravitational force to be measured. That something normally would be either Gases or some other molecular structure such as a Star or an entire Galaxy.

COULD THIS REGION TURN OUT TO BE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DARK MATTER?

THE BIG KAHUNA OF DARK MATTER?

THE KING OF DARK MATTER?

THE ULTIMATE DARK MATTER?

THE BOSS OF DARK MATTER?

IF SO....THEN THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE HAS A BIG FREAKIN PROBLEM.

and since you and I are temporary residents of this Universe....it becomes our problem too....

Of course realistically speaking, it's probably going to take 1 or 2 million years for that THING just south of Orion...to get into our face.
But our children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's (this could take awhile to get to 1 or 2 million years) but relatives are relatives and somebody needs to think about their future.

Obviously I have some issues with
DARK MATTER
and what we don't know about it
and yet we are trying to create
one
at the CERN facility underground in Europe.

How strange to think that THE THING just south of Orion is the ultimate big daddy of Dark Matter and IT is watching our experiment at the CERN facility just hoping that we can make a little DARK MATTER baby

and then the CONNECTION will be shorter between the two.....and
BIG DADDY DARK MATTER and LITTLE BABY DARK MATTER
CAN UNITE
AND
then finally we can check out what happens when our molecular structure gets absorbed by something that absorbs all energy and all light.

DARK MATTER FREAKS ME OUT......as I am sure you can tell.

On the other hand....perhaps a VOID in the Universe just simply makes sense because the Universe needs room to expand.

Those wacky kids from The University of Minnesota have a long football season ahead so of course they've got to be looking somewhere else.

You can bet your ass that USC kids aren't looking at anything....other than September 1....vs Idaho.

Real Dark Matter would be Idaho upsetting the Trojans.

The Universe would have entirely new problems to deal with if that happened.

AND OBVIOUSLY I'M GETTING EXCITED ABOUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THAT'S ONE OF THE WAYS I DEAL WITH MATTERS THAT ARE VERY VERY VERY DARK.

I'm sure you have your own special ways to deal with the mysteries of the Universe.

Just check out that area.... south of Orion.....and note......NOTHING.

MICHAEL TIMOTHY MC ALEVEY

GAME ON MF

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 22 -- President Bush defended his ongoing military commitment in Iraq by linking the conflict there to the Vietnam War, arguing Wednesday that withdrawing U.S. troops would lead to widespread death and suffering as it did in Southeast Asia three decades ago.
"One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 'reeducation camps' and 'killing fields,' " Bush told a receptive audience at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.

AND THE GAME IS ON......MOTHERF..KER

I've been asking the following question for quite awhile......

WHO WILL BE KILLING WHO....if we leave IRAQ?

In Vietnam we knew who exactly would be doing the "killing" and the "reeducation" because we knew exactly who the enemy was and had been fighting them for 10 years. Of course we could never get a handle on who was supporting the North Vietnamese within the civilian community of the south and many times our soldiers would lose their lives because they thought someone was loyal to South Vietnam. Multiply that by a thousand fold in IRAQ. Because please note that this doesn't seem to be a political struggle as much as a religious confrontation between different sects of the same religion.

WHO WILL BE KILLING WHO.....if we leave IRAQ?

I agree that someone is going to be killing someone because obviously there's a lot of pissed off people in Iraq.....but who is going to kill who?

Is the Militia of Sadr going to run amok and destroy everyone who doesn't support his point of view?

Is al-Queda going to kill all the Sunni's and Shiite's?

Will the Sunni's wipe out the Shiite's?

Will the Shiite's wipe out the Sunni's?

Is the Taliban going to show up from Afghanistan and wipe out everybody?

Will Iran invade Iraq and finally kick their ass?

Will Syria invade Iraq for territorial expansion and oil?

Will the newly formed Iraqi Army just start killing everybody who doesn't have a uniform?

WHO WILL BE KILLING WHO.....if we leave IRAQ?


I really don't get the similarities to Vietnam....

That was a war of Democracy vs Communism, which time has shown that Communism will destroy itself....so there's no need to spend a lot of time, money or human life trying to defeat it
because it has no place to flourish on a planet where human beings realize unlimited individual potential is each and every person's right. Unlimited potential for spiritual and physical accomplishments.

The old adage..."How you gonna keep them down on the farm after they've....blah blah blah.....really applies to Communism.

Trying to destroy and defeat the radical sects of the Islamic religion is an entirely different proposition.

I've fairly certain it's not going to happen with a Judeo-Christian Army involved.

IT REALLY IS A SELF CLEANSING THEATER OPERATION....by which I mean that it has to be solved internally from within the Muslim community because they are the ones having the freakin debate.

DEMOCRACY VS COMMUNISM is a clear cut battle for the soul of the individual which thus works in harmony for the soul of the society.

Radical religious factions of any religion must be dealt with by the religious leaders of that religion and any forced behavior from anyone outside of that religion only creates martyrs....and more wacky converts who want to try and preserve their religious heritage.

America's leaders don't really want to use the term religion when talking about Iraq because that implies that a Holy War is actually being fought.

AND ADMITTING THAT WE ARE INVOLVED IN A HOLY WAR
WOULD
MEAN
SOMETHING QUITE DIFFERENT THAN
ANYTHING
WE
DID
IN
VIETNAM
JAPAN
GERMANY
KOREA

A HOLY WAR IS ABOUT RELIGION
and whereas George W. Bush might be exercising muscle in order to win this Holy War...he sure as hell is never going to refer to as that....when he has such other great things to call it....
like

FREEDOM'S MARCH

I just wish the freakin Pope would get involved...so that sides could start be clarified and if this thing is going to be the thing to end all things.....then let's get it on.

What I don't like is people not saying what they really believe and what their actions really mean.

We hear so much bulls..t about the religious right and what they believe is happening in the Middle East and then we hear rumors that George is one of them and then we have to listen to him talk about Freedom's march concerning Democracy.....and his comparisons of Wars so that the mist of confrontation can be cloudy enough to disguise the truth.

IF THIS IS A JIHAD ON THE PART OF THE ISLAMIC FAITH AND GEORGE KNOWS IT....

THEN HE SHOULD START TELLING US THE TRUTH

THEN PERHAPS THE WORLD CAN REALLY START REPAIRING THE PROBLEMS INSTEAD OF PRETENDING TO WANT DEMOCRACY IN PLACE.

DEMOCRACY IS INEVITABLE AS A POLITICAL SYSTEM
ON A PLANET WITH UNLIMITED INFORMATION DISPERSAL SYSTEMS.

RELIGIOUS HARMONY ON THE PART OF DIFFERENT BELIEFS IS NOT INEVITABLE and will not come about until different religions admit that they don't own the franchise on how to LOVE GOD.....or even worse...how they think each of us should LOVE GOD.

IT'S JUST ABOUT LOVING GOD

you do or you don't

if you do....do it your way and rock on....

if you don't......don't

NEITHER ONE OF THOSE POSITIONS HAS ANY EFFECT ON THE CONTINUATION OF A BEING THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CREATION OF A UNIVERSE.

IN FACT

I'M STARTING TO THINK THAT GOD MIGHT BE THINKING WE ARE A BUNCH OF CLOWNS....but of course I have no concept what GOD is thinking and would never be so presumptuous to assume that I even have a small glimpse of what might be on God's plate, agenda or mind.

But I'm getting nervous thinking that George might think he's aware of GOD's agenda.

And it seems that OSAMA BIN LADEN might think he's aware of GODs agenda.

And it seems like Muqtada Sadr might think he's aware of GOD's agenda.

And it seems like there are quite a few other human beings on this planet that think they are aware of GOD's agenda.

AND THAT BLOWS MY LITTLE MIND!

IT'S OFFICIAL.....MY MIND HAS BEEN BLOWN!

and it's entirely up to the religious fanatics to fix this problem and to repair my mind.

How they do that might be something resembling ......

LESS ARROGANCE.....

and a lot more desire
to understand other people's methods for loving GOD.

I've said it before and I'll say it again......

NEO-ILLUMINATION #2

THE RELATIONSHIP OF HEAVEN
AND EARTH
MUST BE DEFINED ON A INDIVIDUAL BASIS

ANYTIME YOU FOLLOW A PRE-ESTABLISHED RELIGIOUS VIEWPOINT
YOU
ARE FOLLOWING SOMEONE
ELSE'S PATH

NOT YOUR OWN

I BELIEVE THAT THE CREATOR
OF
HEAVEN
&
EARTH
CAN HANDLE EACH AND EVERY ONE'S PATH

ONE ON ONE
ALWAYS AND FOREVER
ANYTIME
ANYPLACE
ANYWHERE

so my only real request to ALL people involved in waging war for establishing belief systems around the world is...

Why don't you stop underestimating GOD's ability and just worry about your own individual ass and soul and where they will end up...............................AND LEAVE ME THE F..K ALONE!

AMEN!

AND ALTHOUGH I WAS AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM...I DON'T EVER REMEMBER THINKING THAT ANYTHING HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH GOD'S LOVE IN THAT WAR AND THIS CRAP IN IRAQ SEEMS TO BE ENTIRELY BASED ON GOD OR OIL
and a lot more GOD than oil from what I can tell.



MICHAEL TIMOTHY McALEVEY

NICE

Often times when one remembers a special party there are many ways to describe the experience.
The first word that comes to my mind is...
NICE

On Saturday August 18th (My dad's 88 birthday) a Reunion of sorts was held at Mono Lake California.

It was called the.....

2007 MONO BASIN FAMILY REUNION
and it was the brain child of
Little John Adams

I'm not really sure of the time frame for the reunion because it was so diverse.

The intention was to reunite everyone who lived in Mono County from 1968 to 1980 (I think)
and especially to reunite the people who happened to be at Little John's first party in 1971....and specifically the 31 people who were arrested at that party and transported by bus to Bridgeport and incarcerated for the night and held for a court appearance the next day.

Having been one of those 31 people I was quite excited to attend the Reunion.

Of course perceptions of things that happened from 1968 to 1972 always have a slight hazy cloud that interfere with the ability to actually remember some important details....and often times the memories have a slight variation from the actual reality.

For example....I thought there were 100 people that got busted and that there were two buses that took us to Bridgeport. I remember everybody singing on the bus. I remember everybody was blazing.

By the way, the 1971 bus bust was a group effort on the part of Mono County law enforcement officers and park rangers.... and they surrounded us at a meadow. I thought there were 25 cop cars but realistically there were probably only 5. The bust was an effort to control and stop the use of drugs in the Inyo-Mono county jurisdiction.

I'm not really sure if it worked because I was placed on probation and basically was told to leave the county.
Which I did.

I'm sure the bust worked and that everyone who stayed......stopped doing drugs.

I, on the other hand.... moved to Marin County where the law enforcement people were actually distributing drugs to anyone who moved there....but of course that's an entirely different story so let's get back to Mono Lake.....

At the reunion party I never got to discuss what other people thought about that day in 1971....because of the 31 people who were on the original bus ride....apparently only 6 to 15 people were at the reunion....and we never got together for a group picture or for a group chat or for a group song.....unless of course the group song took place at the very end of the party....which I didn't get to see because the people I came with....wanted to leave early.

Now at this moment I've got to interject a side-bar.

I come from a long line of Irish party goers who have a horrible reputation for staying at parties until the very last drop is poured or the very last song is played...and leaving a reunion early, that took 40 years to occur, would not have been my choice.

Some people came from Australia.....some people came from New York and some people came all the way from Gull Lake.

And welcome to those moments that you blame someone else.

I could have stayed for the last 45 minutes and gotten a ride back to town but I didn't and I have no one to blame but me.

The only question I have, for those people who left early, is why would anybody leave a reunion 2 hours before it was over..... when it took 40 years to occur.

I understand Sharon's situation....and feeling sick is not the way one wants to approach a party....or a 10 hour car ride....so I make an exception on her part....and of course her loving husband Howard who wouldn't talk to me.

Maybe the next one in 2047 will result in everybody staying until the show is over.

I have to be fair and let you know that my friends weren't the only ones to leave early.

So before I go any further I just want to say one thing to Little John..... who was on the bus and who obviously loves to network....

LITTLE JOHN....I'LL BE THERE NEXT YEAR AND I PROMISE TO STAY FOR THE VERY LAST SONG....BECAUSE WHEN I HEARD THAT YOU DID GLORIA TO END THE SHOW....... I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO PUKE....

I MISSED IT!

AND SO DID MY FRIENDS.

AND THIS MORNING I DON'T HAVE THAT MEMORY TO ENJOY.

BUT...
I do have a ton of other memories to enjoy and most of those memories have faces attached to them.
Faces that look quite a bit different than 40 years ago....except for my friend Greg....(Wolf) who for some strange reason looks exactly the same. And I knew he looked the same because everybody who saw him recognized him immediately....and that also applies to Little John.

So that either means they look the same OR they were the most popular people ever to work at June Mountain.

Greg does have that kind of aura......and I think it comes from being the "HAY MAN".....NOTHING LIKE BEING A HAY FARMER TO KEEP ONE LOOKING FRESH AND YOUNG. OF COURSE THERE ARE OTHER SECRETS THAT I CAN'T SHARE, BUT HE WON FOR LEAST CHANGED PERSON.....BY A LONG SHOT. And I realize that hay isn't even his primary crop....buy being able to say HAY MAN every time you see him doesn't work if he grows barley.....I mean really..... BARLEY MAN sounds silly.

I will say that the babes really dig the HAY MAN. I watched a few of them as they talked to him and the sparks were still flying. I used to know that feeling when talking to the babes but somewhere in the late 90's it went away.....but I remember it and I love seeing it still happen to one of my best friends.

I've got to take some time soon and hook up with Little John and really chit-chat about 1971 and the first party.....I tried to talk with him on Saturday but the DUDE was overwhelmed by friends and family who obviously love him to the core.

He is a very lucky man and I think most of it has to do with a simple reality.

LITTLE JOHN is a sweetheart. A kind and gentle soul who not only loves life but really digs everyone he's ever known....and it shows and glows from within.

I can't say that about too many people.

But I can say...that its a really good way to be if you want people to care about you in the long run......and hopefully long runs will continue to be a part of his life.

The party was a total success and everybody, even those who left early, will have nice memory of a very special day.

Thanks John for all your efforts.

YOU ARE THE REAL DEAL.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE 2008 VERSION.

MICHAEL TIMOTHY MC ALEVEY

And I thought there were problems

My ex-wife gave me a book the other day and that should have been a clue.
Her exact intentions are still unclear in regards to the gift but as I approach the last third of the book I'm pretty sure that she just simply wanted.......

TO FREAK ME OUT!

I thought that....
COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER
GLOBAL WARMING
REPUBLICAN REDISTRICTING
WAR IN IRAQ
DODGERS NOT HITTING
RELIGIOUS FANATICISM FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE
DICK CHENEY'S GENERAL ATTITUDE


were .......major problems

THEY ARE TINY LITTLE HUMAN BUMPS IN THE ROAD COMPARED TO WHAT ONE LEARNS FROM READING

"THE DEMON IN THE FREEZER" BY RICHARD PRESTON
what is really scary is that this book was written in 2002
and I'm just learning about the ....

"SMALLPOX EXPERIENCE"

Has everybody already read this book and just got so freaked out that they couldn't talk about it with friends and family?

I'm not going to start making excuses for Georgie Jr....but I'm telling you that if he was being advised by any of the major players in this story...then the world is lucky that America only invaded IRAQ.

Knowing how George responds I would say that Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, Africa and most of South America could have been nuked in an attempt to stop biowarfare from spreading.

IT IS REALLY SCARY STUFF....and I'm not talking about the horrible virus.

I'M TALKING ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS MAKING DECISIONS BASED ON LACK OF REGARD FOR THE HUMAN SPECIES.

THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE THAT SEEM TO THINK THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO HELP WITH THE ERADICATION OF THE HUMAN RACE.

I CAN THINK OF NO OTHER ANSWER.

AND IF YOU THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A SECOND.....

IT HAS TO DEPRESS YOU
OR.....
YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT AND YOU ARE WONDERING WHY NUKE'S AREN'T USED EVERY FREAKIN DAY...

and if you are one of those people.....I bet you read that book.

COMMON SENSE seems to have dissolved to a nano concept when ERADICATION of SMALLPOX was achieved.

THE IDEA THAT ANYONE NEEDED TO STORE A VIRUS THAT COULD DESTROY HUMAN LIFE....JUST MAKES ME WONDER
AND
WONDER
AND
WONDER

and add only one thing....

YOU SHOULD TRY YOUR HARDEST TO DO THE BEST THAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS EVERY SINGLE DAY THAT YOU ARE ALIVE.....BECAUSE
THAT
COULD
CHANGE
TOMORROW
or later today

and of course you already might be one of those people and if so
MOVE OVER DUDE!

LET'S PARTY

MICHAEL TIMOTHY MC ALEVEY

The King and ???

When I was 12 years old the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and that made me very happy but before that first season in LA was over, I had become really excited about something else. In July of 1958 a movie was released with the young upstart of Rock and Roll....who would later become the King of Rock and Roll.

King Creole is still one of my favorite movies of all time and easily the best Elvis film he ever made. The cast alone proves my point. I've written articles about the movie so I won't go into details at this time. Suffice to say, that movie made it ok to sing in public and in fact I actually believed people who could sing....were suppose to sing in public. The next few years resulted in some funny looks from strangers but by then I was 14 and didn't care what anybody thought.

Jump ahead 19 years.....Two months before I got married the King turned to dust.

30 years ago today the music world took a hit and Elvis decided he had had enough. It turns out that he is probably a billion times more popular today then he was when he died.

I was amazed the other day when I read that his estate is second in income for dead recording artists.

SECOND

CAN YOU GUESS WHO IS FIRST.

I can't imagine that anybody would know this answer.....except die hard fans of the actual person.

KURT COBAIN's estate received $35 million last year. The King's estate took in $27 million.

I'm not sure how to digest that information....and I'm not sure that most Elvis fans even know who Kurt Cobain is.

The only thing I do know about Kurt was that he was the front man for Sean's favorite band Nirvana....and that's good enough for me.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Mixed emotions

Yesterday I shot a 78 while playing with my soon to be 88 year old father and my older brother who just recently started playing.

78!

And in conclusion I can honestly say that my ball striking is perhaps the best its ever been and all I have to do is play from the fairway and my scores will keep improving. I have a tendency to play my second shot from somewhere in the forest...and the forest I usually find is on the right side of the golf course.

I discovered something with my leg leg and foot a few weeks ago and using the discovery has resulted in hitting fairways at least 50 percent of the time. Please note that there have only been two rounds to test the discovery so I can't say its a permanent fix.

The interesting thing about shooting a 78 when my dad shoots a 90 is that I don't take a lot of pleasure in crushing him. I have mixed emotions because I really like it when he plays well and has a good round. It means more right now because he's got a leg by-pass scheduled for the 23rd and he won't be able to play for 5 or 6 weeks.

The good thing is that when I met with his doctor, who happens to be a 3 handicap, the only thing he said was...."our goal is to get him back on the course within 5 weeks after surgery."

I like it when doctors are practical....and knowing that playing golf is extremely important to my dad....I really like it when a doctor uses that as a focus for outcome.

Surgeries at any age are tough but at 88 all things become intensified.

But in the meantime...

78!

And the fact is that I missed six putts by a hair.... that had they fallen... I would have shot a 72.

Would have and should have and could have are very common terms in the game of golf.

I was putting for birdies on 11 of the 18 holes and when playing golf the ultimate goal of the game is to be putting for a birdie on every hole.

I wished that my dad had shot a 79 because then we both would have felt great.

My brother shot the same as my dad and he's probably only played 20 rounds of golf in his life.

It was a nice family gathering with the first two sons and the grand ole dad....even though he doesn't seem so old.

I've said this before.....in the last 15 years he keeps looking exactly the same and I'm looking older and older. Pretty soon someone is going to ask if we are brothers....and then I can start looking towards the red and white tees and leave the blue ones behind.

Mixed emotions are part of the game. And I'm not just referring to the game of golf.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

The Dodgers have me thinking about football

I should be really excited about the last 45 games of the major league baseball season but watching the Dodgers over the last three weeks has only done one thing.....it has made me start getting excited about football.
I normally never turn my attention to the pigskin until the horsehide is finished.

Do you think they still use pigskin and horsehide?

It really is painful watching the Dodgers and it's a complete meltdown....from pitchers to hitters and everything in between.

I think the only hope they have is to put Nomar back in the third spot and let Martin bat fifth so that Kent can see some fastballs. Gonzales should bat seventh....and Ethier sixth.....and let Loney hit in the eight spot so that there's no pressure. Nomar has proved that he can handle pressure and as they fall further and further....the pressure will get stronger and stronger.

But seriously....while watching yesterday's 12-2 lost all I could think about was September 1 and the Trojans first game.

Football season for me centers on two teams......USC and the Rams.

Of course it's very easy to think about USC when one considers that this might be the best defensive team they've had since Pete Carroll arrived.

THE BEST DEFENSIVE TEAM SINCE PETE CARROLL ARRIVED.

I LOVE SAYING THAT....even if it's not true. But the fact that I read this while trying to watch the Dodgers really made me feel good....and while watching the Dodgers, anything that can make me feel good is welcomed with open arms.

Being a true fan, I think the Dodgers can get it together but just in case.....

SEPTEMBER 1 vs Idaho is looking real good....and Stephen Jackson for the Rams looks like the next huge dealio in running backs.

And then I woke up this morning and discovered that Karl Rove had announced he was bailing out.

Is there no end to the joy?

Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfled and now Karl Rove........the only thing better would be if the Real Dick somehow was brought down off of his bulls..t throne.


Michael Timothy McAlevey

Morally Bankrupt

Having been raised a Catholic and having attended Catholic Schools from grades 1 to 12....I have been amazed and saddened by the molestation cases that have surfaced over the last 10 years. Even though I am no longer a practicing member of that organization I still felt a twinge of regret every time I would read about a new round of law suits.

But every time I would read about a new round of legal proceedings there would always follow a story regarding possible settlements in each situation.

Knowing that the Catholic Church is one of the wealthiest organisations in the world...I, at the very least, saw some sensitivity in regards to the individuals involved. That acknowledging of sensitivity was strictly due to financial numbers that would help to offset the traumatic experiences of each and every victim during their youth.

Money doesn't solve trauma but acknowledging errors in behavior is represented in our society by monetary remunerations.

I felt a slight touch of pride knowing that the shapers of my spiritual youth were at least doing something to make up for extremely negative behavior....and behavior that could be regarded as evil if one wants to go in that direction.....and although I wasn't planning on returning to the Church, I felt ok that they were doing something.

I guess I missed a part of the story.

Last February The Catholic Diocese of San Diego filed for bankruptcy one day before the first court case, in that area, was set to begin.

140 people had filed lawsuits for sexual abuse by priests in that diocese.

BANKRUPTCY?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

and now I officially say that I am completely embarrassed to have been raised a Catholic.

BANKRUPTCY?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

It turns out that the bankruptcy judge is saying that the diocese is not disclosing all of its assets and is not reporting the fair market value of the property they own.

"The diocese," says the judge, "has been lax, ineffective or indifferent in its oversight of the parishes."

When this bankruptcy gets rejected and the settlement is announced for the San Diego Diocese...I predict the numbers will set a record. Of course that's not hard because each new settlement in each area of this country is considerably larger than the previous settlement.

I feel bad for the people who settled 10 years ago for thousands of dollars and have to sit back and watch new settlements for millions of dollars.

There should be a review of settlements made in the beginning and bring them up to financial standards that are currently in place.

BANKRUPTCY?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

GIVE ME A FREAKIN BREAK!

Imagine if the Church just sold 5% of their antiquities through a Sotheby's Auction. There's probably one or two items that could pay off all the victims in San Diego.

BANKRUPTCY?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

I agree that they are bankrupt....but it has nothing to do with money and everything to do with
morality.

I'm truly embarrassed.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Trouble on the coast and the new toast

There was a line in the movie "Blood Diamond" where an old man in a village greets Danny Archer, Leo's character, and Danny is amazed by the chaos and devastation that has been happening because of diamonds.....the old man looks at him and says.....something like......

"Thank God they haven't found oil.....that would really be a problem."

This morning The LA TIMES reported that Chevron has discovered a sizable reservoir of oil off the coast of ANGOLA.

I haven't done any stories about oil companies because I was so depressed about the defeat of 87 in the last election that I decided to ignore the entire gasoline/oil issue.

If the people don't care about gasoline prices and excessive profits of oil companies....then no amount of ranting and raving is going to change their perception.

The recent profit reports of the big three oil companies are staggering. Numbers that are so high I can't even remember them....like the hummingbird wing beats per second number.

In fact as I write this article I realize I still don't want to discuss oil companies but all I can say is....
Watch out Angola!

Like African countries don't have enough problems to deal with......I do wonder how land reform is going in those countries that seem to constantly be in a state of revolution.

********************************************************************
This is one of the coolest stories that I've ever heard......in the world of sports.

In the late 90's there was a very valuable rookie baseball card, that everyone needed to have in their collection. A young left-handed pitcher that was a lock for future greatness. He threw 100 miles an hour and the buzz was that the new Sandy Koufax had arrived. He was drafted by St. Louis and was on the fast track to the major leagues.

Rick Ankiel made the roster and made the starting rotation and then a funny thing happened.

He couldn't throw a strike.

I'm being generous when I say he couldn't throw a strike....because I remember watching clips when he couldn't even throw near the catcher. I'm sure some of those clips will start to re-surface as the current story unfolds.

Yesterday, six years after he was sent back to the minors he reappeared for the St. Louis Cardinals.

This time he showed up as a home run hitting outfielder.

In his first game back in the Major Leagues, as an outfielder, he hit a three run homer and helped the Cardinals win 5-0 over the Padres.

It turns out that he had hit 32 this year in the minors......he turns out that he might be the new Babe Ruth.

OK...that's a stupid comment....but I can't think of another pitcher who became a hitter and made people forget about his pitching.

The difference of course is....The Babe was a great pitcher. I'm sure if you look at Rick Ankiel's stats while in High School you would see that he was overpowering and was regarded as a great pitcher.....so there are people who knew Rick Ankiel when he was a great pitcher.

Will he make it as a 26 year old outfielder?

I don't think it really matters if he has great success as a hitter....even though it would be a further feather in the cap of this incredible comeback story.

The fact that he wanted to be in the Major Leagues is the story....and the fact that he was going to do whatever it took to be in the Major Leagues is the story. How long that experience lasts doesn't really matter.

The story is an HBO movie.
The story is a Steven Spielberg epic.
The story is a John Grishman/Steven King/Dean Koontz combo novel

The story of Rick Ankiel is truly one for the ages....and it really doesn't matter what happens next......more stuff is just icing on the cake.....and every other cliche that can be thought of when referring to great comeback stories in the world of sports.

This is the greatest comeback story of all time......because I'm telling you....the guy couldn't throw the ball within ten feet of the catcher.

HE WAS TOAST

and today he is the talk of the baseball world and the toast of the town in St. Louis.

I will love hearing the whole story which will include some amazing family and friends and coaches and supporters and so on and so on.....because something like this couldn't be done alone.

Welcome back Rick......

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Stop the Presses

The Dodgers just scored a run....first one in 28 innings. And they scored the run before 10 am PST. It's the first time in 40 years that they were shut out 3 times in a row. But it's worst than that...the last fourteen games have seen almost no production. No one gets concerned over a three or four game stretch but when that stretch turns into a pattern than there is a problem.

Last year after the all-star break they lost 14 of 15 or 13 of 14....whatever....it was ugly and everybody basically wrote them off. But they rebounded and made the playoffs. This negative stretch will test the mind power of Bill Mueller..the new batting coach.

Mind power in this type of situation is the difference between a season being successful and a season being lost.

If the batting coach can remind each player about positive swing thoughts and make sure that those swing thoughts are practiced each and every time one approaches the plate....then it will be ok. If on the other hand....the funk takes over and the pattern sets in and hits don't appear than it's very hard to have positive swing thoughts when walking to the plate and generally one in that mind set is just happy not to strike out.

It's a small science....the art of hitting a baseball....and each scientist has to develop their own test for success.

I note one very important flaw when people aren't hitting. The opposite field hit becomes a rare event.

The idea of being patient is much easier in the beginning of the season when energy is abundant...as the season starts wearing on the stamina...the reflexes get questioned and the reaction to a pitched ball happens sooner than it should.

We watch hitters take soft swings and ground the ball to short or second.....we stop seeing hitters take aggressive swings and before the dust settles.....long dry stretch turns into a long dry pattern that turns into.....maybe next year.

I don't want that pattern to be how I remember the 2007 baseball season and the only person who can fix this is...

Bill Mueller......and since he didn't even want the job....I'm not sure it will work for him. I've read that he is a nice guy and a smart guy....but let's face it....he's no Mickey Hatcher.

We just have to see if he knows how to ask the right questions of each player before they go up to bat. If he doesn't like to bother batters than we have a deep problem.....because if the batters could do this on their own....they would never enter the world of funk, the bad stretch and would completely avoid any negative thing that resulted in a bad pattern....that ended with a season being considered....a losing season.

Most major league players are great athletes but they aren't necessarily great at figuring out what makes something go wrong....because mainly in their lives.....everything has gone great.

850 men playing Major League baseball out of 300,000,000 people....making huge amounts of money.....and when one tries to talk about things going wrong....it doesn't sink in.......because really when you get right down to it......nothing is wrong.

And that's why the jury is out on Bill Mueller.......can he discuss the moment of response with a batter.....can he convince them that they still have great reflexes, even in the dog days of summer......can he do the job that he doesn't even want?

It's a job that Tommy Lasorda did extremely well and he never even had that job.

How to get a hitter to narrow the focus down to one exact moment.

It's a trick

and only time will tell if Mr. Mueller has figured out how to teach that trick to a bunch of wealthy men playing baseball.

I'm watching and would be willing to help out in any way possible.....I might be helpful directly behind home plate during the next home stand.

Call me.

MIchael Timothy McAlevey

Murphy, Bonds and no runs

Yesterday was an historic day for baseball but my team is in one of the ugliest funks I've seen and all the hoopla and histrionic stuff doesn't mean anything when the Dodgers can't even score a run in three of the last four games. The picture of Nomar sliding in to home has been posted just to see if it helps remind them of what scoring a run looks like.

It's the second week of August and hopefully their huge funk is being played out now and not in September, but then again if they don't reverse this funk...they might be 15 games out of first place by September.

I think there's too much being asked of the youth on this squad and obviously the old timers are feeling the summer heat. They need to reach down to Vegas and pull up Wilson Alvarez and put him at third, Normar back at first, keep Ethier in the line-up and be a lot more patience at the plate.

But a few other things happened yesterday, on my daughter's 21st birthday, in the wonderful world of major league baseball.

Barry Bonds made a 22 year old named Matt Murphy, a household name for baseball trivia experts. For 23 years Barry has been playing the game of baseball at an exceedingly high level, as having seven MVP's would attest to, and with one catch a dude named Matt Murphy becomes part of the Bonds legacy.

From rumors circulating....that part should be worth a minimum of $500,000. I personally think it will go for quite a bit more if Matt Murphy handles the bidding correctly.

The fact that Matt Murphy was even in the ballpark is strange. The kid from Queens, a Met fan, is on his way to Australia and is on a lay over.....decides to buy a ticket in one of the deepest parts of the park, settles in with his Mets Jersey, takes some ribbing from Giants fans and then at 8:51 snags number 756.

Truly........ONLY IN AMERICA.

Barry Bonds hitting 756 home runs is an incredible feat.

Catching number 756 on a layover from New York to Australia is beyond incredible.

I think whatever Airline he is flying should give him 5 million for the ball and the advertising campaign.

The catch phrase for the campaign could be.....

"Lay overs are a great thing when you travel, if you take time to smell the roses and catch a few fly balls."

Someone somewhere is working on this as I write, and by next month more people around the world will know Matt Murphy than Barry Bonds.

There's already more people who like Matt Murphy more than Barry Bonds.

I'm serious when I say that Barry Bonds might be one of the more unpopular athletes alive....and what most people don't understand is that has absolutely nothing to do with steriods.

They guy has always been a dickhead in the eyes of the American baseball fan. He got in a physical fight with Jim Leyland when he was in his early 20's. Jim Leyland!

Barry Bonds has a reputation for being a dickhead that goes far beyond the issue of being juiced. I don't think someone is a dickhead for using human growth hormones, especially when there were no rules against it until very recently.

Mark McGuire has been cruxified and he was using over the counter stuff from health food stores.

If it turns out that Matt Murphy is juiced up then we really have a story.

"I've been taking HGH for a few years," said Matt. " Because I saw how freakin big it made Barry Bonds, and I wanted to be huge, just like him."

So many places to take a story, don't you think?

I'd really like to celebrate the Barry Bonds feat, but the Dodgers haven't scored a run since July and I'm getting nervous. And being a baseball fan means having a team that you love.

Individual players that you love became a thing of the past when free-agency became reality. You can like a player but you better not get to attached unless you don't mind seeing him in different uniforms.

But you can always love a team...

unless of course your are from Brooklyn and you were born between 1900-1957.....but that's another story.

But I still love the Rams and they will never come back to LA.

Anyway...it's a team that we love....and the faces change and the team remains(usually) so right now I'm not enjoying the season because my Team has fallen to fourth place in the division and it doesn't look like they can even score a single run.

Imagine if they went the rest of the season without scoring...now that would be a story for the ages.

I'm not sure I could even handle one more scoreless game.

Maybe they could hire Matt Murphy for some type of promotion....and with that grasping for straws idea....I sign off

Michael Timothy McAlevey

And we never forget

Today is the 21st birthday of this little girl....and I could show you her picture today but I wanted you see what runs through the mind of a father when his daughter turns 21.

She is a smoking hot adult woman but in my mind....she will always be the images shown above and that might be why it's so hard to stop acting like a parent....why it's so hard to stop trying to interfere and offer opinions....why it's so hard to realize that she is

her own person....

I do realize it and I accept it but there are these images that rumble through my mind when someone asks me how Lily is....

I say fine....beautiful...spunky.....but always in my mind are these images of the girl who used to be daddy's little girl.

Who is now 21 and completely not wanting to remember those parts of her that still exist in my mind.

We tell our kids to grow up but in truth....it's us that need to grow up and deal with the facts.

The fact is my beautiful daughter Lily May Montana is 21 years old today and I wish her all the very best....but I also wish that she would just be that little girl once in awhile when she looks at me or talks to me....

Just once in awhile.....

Happy Birthday

Dad

Bridges, Vibration, Fatigue and ONE freaked out Jackhammer Dude

The collapsed bridge story in Minneapolis has some strange abstract twists and turns beyond the tragic actual twists and turns.

First off the sound must have been HUGE. This was a 458 foot arch span without a center support.....which might not be a related factor....but there is another potential factor that caught my attention.

There is one freaked out State worker sitting around today asking questions that might never be answered.

A crew of workers was resurfacing a portion of the bridge when it buckled and collapsed. A bridge engineer on CNN made a passing remark this morning about the depth of the resurfacing and that perhaps the moment of ultimate stress fracture could have been caused by a....JACKHAMMER.

Imagine the JACKHAMMER "dude" at that precise moment.

JACKHAMMER DUDE is having a problem with a small area on the bridge....and JACKHAMMER is not breaking through a portion. It's causing JACKHAMMER DUDE to get pissed off and he intensifies his effort and drives the JACKHAMMER a little further down at the same moment he says.....

"I'm going to f..k you up Mr. Bridge."

AND WHAMO....the bridge answered back.

From what the bridge engineer said on CNN...the stress fatigue moment could have been caused by a single episode and the VIBRATION started from that single episode could have started a chain reaction of substructure weakness.

Obviously there was some structural problems with the bridge and how it was built with what materials were used.....must be taken into account.

I hope this doesn't come down to some contractor or inspector deciding, 40 years ago, to either use some inferior product or ignore some facts.

Rumors are circulating that there are more than 70,000 bridges in America that need attention, and today bridge builders are front and center in the news....

and one JACKHAMMER DUDE is hiding under his bed.

The first comment from any authoritative person was....

"There doesn't seem to be any indication that this was an act of terrorism."

Can you imagine how bored Al-Queda would have to have been to attack a bridge in Minneapolis just to prevent the groundbreaking ceremony at the Twins new stadium?

"But....we are looking for a JACKHAMMER DUDE"

SIDE-BAR

How many Presidential hopefuls will arrive in Minneapolis over the next few days?

Talk about a photo-op!

Maybe we should take note and decide not to vote for anyone of those yokels who does show up at this tragic scene.

Michael Timothy McAlevey